Alex Semin was known to have one of the deadliest wrist shots in the NHL when he played 11 seasons in the league for the Washington Capitals, Carolina Hurricanes, and Montreal Canadiens.
Semin, who announced his retirement in 2022, showed Thursday night that there are some skills that you just don’t ever lose. The former 40-goal scorer was in attendance at Capital One Arena to support his good friend, Alex Ovechkin, and while he was there, he became the sixth Caps alumni to take on the nightly Top Shot challenge.
The challenge, usually done by a random fan in attendance, features nine targets a shooter must hit with plastic pucks to win a prize. Semin completed it in 12.21 seconds, beating out Peter Bondra to set a new alumni record.
Semin initially downplayed his abilities, telling the Capitals’ Annie Mae that he didn’t think he could top Bondra’s previous top mark of 12.3 seconds. He then rattled off the nine targets in just 12 shots, showcasing his signature elite release from his playing days.
Semin still owns the distinction of being the only player other than Ovechkin himself to score 40 goals during the Ovi Era in DC. He also assisted on 45 of Ovechkin’s 895 career goals — ninth most of any Capital.
Sasha Minor, who was also spotted by RMNB’s Katie Adler at MedStar Capitals Iceplex on Thursday morning, attended the game with his kids. While they barely missed out on seeing Ovechkin break Wayne Gretzky’s goals record, they were able to take in the “Gr8ness Pre-game Ceremony” honoring Ovechkin for doing so last Sunday.
Semin wasn’t the only famous former Capitals winger in attendance, as fellow countryman Ilya Kovalchuk also took in the ceremony from the suite level.
Kovalchuk played 15 games across the regular season and playoffs for the Capitals during the 2019-20 season.
